The next release in Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s live archive series has just been announced: LA Sports Arena, California, 1988. Coming toward the end of the U.S. leg of the Tunnel of Love Express Tour, this concert is from April 23, 1988 – the second night of a five-night stand in Los Angeles. Performances from other nights in this stand have shown up on Springsteen videos over the years.

The Tunnel of Love Express Tour marked several changes for Springsteen. Most significantly, musically-speaking, his association with the E Street Band was about to go on an extended hiatus. The album Tunnel of Love had been recorded mostly by Springsteen himself without much involvement from the E Street Band. Following this tour, Springsteen would not perform a full tour live with the group again until 1999. (Bruce and the E Street Band did perform together as part of the short Human Rights Now! Benefit tour later in 1988). Also, on the personal front, Springsteen was in the midst of the break-up of his marriage to Julianne Phillips – something reflected in the music on the Tunnel album. Springsteen then found himself as tabloid fodder for the first major time when he began a relationship with back-up singer Patti Scialfa – whom he would of course go on to marry.

The concerts during the Tunnel of Love Express Tour were also different than in the past. A horn section – The Horns of Love – was added. The entrance for Bruce and the E Street Band was highly stylized and the members were placed in unusual spots on the stage. They also did not move around much – a departure from past shows. The set lists were more static night to night and the music was not as bombastic in the past. Gone were staples such as “Badlands” and “Prove It All Night,” replaced by B-sides and outtakes such as “Be True.” The songs from the Tunnel album (“Brilliant Disguise,” “One Step Up,” “Tunnel of Love”) were of course spotlighted and the show still contained many favorites such as “Born to Run” (although performed in a different arrangement) and “Rosalita (Come Out Tonight).”

The show was recorded live by Toby Scott, assisted by Paul de Gre. It was mixed from Digital PCM multitracks to DSD by Toby Scott in May and June of this year, assisted by Kenta Yoneska at Germano Studios and Rob Lebret at Thrill Hill. This release has been mastered by Adam Ayan at Gateway Mastering.

The concerts will be offered in Direct Stream Digital or DSD ($39.95) – a format with 64 times the sampling rate of CD – as well as the usual options of MP3 ($9.95, 256 kbps), FLAC or Apple Lossless ($12.95), HD-Audio ($24.95, 24 bit/192 kHz, FLAC-HD or ALAC-HD) and CD-R ($23.00). CDs will not begin shipping until August 4, but those purchasing the 3-CD sets have the usual option to pay an extra $5.00 to obtain the MP3s now.

All six volumes of The Bruce Springsteen Archive Series – plus a number of recent concerts from 2014 – are available at Springsteen’s official live store for download and physical purchase. You can also sample tracks at this link which you’ll find just below!

Randy Fairman

Entertainment historian and writer Randy Fairman is a graduate of Northwestern University. Randy has written for publications including University Reporter Chicago and co-authored the graphic novel Love Bytes. A native of Indiana, he currently resides in New Jersey.

Hi there, I think it’s been well-established by this point in the series that these are CD-Rs. They are even described as such in the text above: “The concerts will be offered in Direct Stream Digital or DSD ($39.95) – a format with 64 times the sampling rate of CD – as well as the usual options of MP3 ($9.95, 256 kbps), FLAC or Apple Lossless ($12.95), HD-Audio ($24.95, 24 bit/192 kHz, FLAC-HD or ALAC-HD) and CD-R ($23.00).” Thanks for reading!

The acoustic “Born to Run” never really did it for me, and the Tunnel album, while decent, and a few standout tracks, was sort of the beginning of the end for my serious Bruce fandom. I still like him, but I think he peaked sometime in the early 80s. In spite of that, I’ll likely check this concert out. It’ll be an interesting contrast to the other shows in the series.

I imagine this series will wind its way though the 90s and 00s, but I hope they’ll go back to more from ’75-’81. Especially the famed “Roxy Night” from ’78.

Got the 24-bit version and like the other archive releases, it’s exceptional! I saw this tour (back when I was in high school – showing my age here 😉 and some of the “Tunnel” tunes went over my head. Since, I’ve gone back to “Tunnel” often and those songs are a real treat here! And some incredible covers of “Have Love, Will Travel” & “Sweet Soul Music” make this another fabulous concert entry from the archives. All of this stuff blows away the “Live 75-85” box for sound quality and features so much more in each shows entirety. Keep ’em coming!

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